Sonic the Hedgehog 1. Introduction

The young hedgehog gulped nervously as he took in his surroundings. The marvelous marble flooring, the breathtakingly beautiful stained glass windows, the plush carpet that held his eyes captive, and the countless other wonders in the amazingly spacious room. He quickly whirled as a guard spoke to him. "Do you like the carpet? Rumor has it that it's actually the hide of something that the king killed." The hedgehog stared back blankly before his survival instinct kicked in. "The carpet is lovely. Whoever skinned that creature must have great hand eye coordination." The guard looked back and smiled. "Maybe you'll last here after all. I hope you get the job." With that the huge slate colored Echidna walked away. At that exact moment a pair of doors so ornately carved that the young hedgehog had originally assumed they were simply part of the wall swung open. "Silver The Hedgehog step forward." The white hedgehog walked into the interviewing room fighting a growing sense of dread. How had he ever gotten into this mess? He should never have agreed to spy on the new king. As he walked in he quickly scanned this new room and gaped when he realized who was sitting behind the desk. The familiar black hedgehog with the red stripes in his hair and half bent quills. It was none other than Shadow another spy. Shadow looked at Silver with his trademark coldness and treated the interview like he'd never seen Silver before in his whole life. Silver found himself admiring his surroundings more than his so called interviewer...the real gold hand dusted onto the desk, the crystal chandelier infused with Chaos Energy, another oddly smooth carpet.."Silver pay attention." Shadow barked. Silver gulped quickly realizing that he had nearly blown his cover and answered the question that he had nearly missed. "I believe that the new king is loyal to the people and will do whatever it takes to defend them." Silver shuddered inwardly at the rumors he had already heard about Mobius' new lord and cringed at the thought of what he might have to do to avoid blowing his cover. "You're hired." Shadow barked. The guards looked slightly surprised until he added "You won't last long. I doubt the king or his brothers like your looks." Silver frowned in confusion the king had brothers? The guards laughed as they lead him to his bedchamber for the night. "I wonder if they'll make you a feeder or skin you alive?" One of the guards asked him. Silver inwardly hoped neither but knew that his Telekinesis would only provide limited power if the king was half as powerful as the rumors stated he was. He laid in the bed and feel fast asleep as soon as the guards let him promising to himself that he'd explore the room when he awoke in the morning.

Shadow meanwhile was in his room pacing. How could they send an inexperienced rookie like Silver into such a perilous situation? He thought to himself. He's too naive he's going to get us all killed! Shadow could only shake his head. If Silver didn't toughen up he'd never in make it to the king as one of his brothers would kill him first. A slight tapping at his door snapped him out of his thoughts. "Come in." The royal family's newest servant came in afraid to meet his eyes. Shadow immediately felt shame. She must think I'm one of them. "You can come in without fear as I'm not one of the Royal family." "No but you serve them." She said in voice that was scarcely a whisper. "As do you" Shadow stated "but that doesn't mean either of us have to be happy with it." The young lady hedgehog looked up at Shadow. "I'm new here I was just hired what do you think they want of me?" Shadow turned away not willing to answer. "What's your name?" He asked her. "I'm Amy Rose but you may call me Rose for short." Shadow glanced back at her pink fur and green eyes. He shuddered at that thought of what was in store for her. "Well Rose I am incapable of telling you exactly what the Royal family wants. I don't advise them and the easiest way to stay alive is to serve and ask as few questions as possible." Rose turned away "Ok I understand. It's just that I don't have any particular powers other than being very strong." Shadow glanced at her with scarcely disguised pity in his gaze. "Your strength will most certainly be used here." A guard peered through the open door then and told them it was lights out time. Rose said goodbye to Shadow and left for her own room. Shadow laid down looked at the ceiling and sighed. He'd lost so much of himself when he took the job. He couldn't help but feel that he'd loose more of it the next morning. He turned over and activated his chat channel knowing that the other member of his team would be awake. He wasn't wrong. "They got another servant". "_Yesss and it is no concern of ours. She isn't going to help us get any closer. She'd only get in the way."_ Shadow couldn't argue with Mephiles' cold logic but the young hedgehog's innocent gaze haunted him. "Yes of course you're right." Shadow terminated the connection he was the leader of the team and if he decided to help her Mephiles' would have to go along with his orders. He glanced out of the window at the grounds surrounding the palace and couldn't help but notice how many armed guards were marching about. He desperately wished that Silver didn't try anything stupid and that nothing disturbed the rest of the Royal Family so that they would be in a decent mood tomorrow. With that the Ultimate Battle Life Form allowed himself a fitful sleep. Dreading the day to come.

Outside as the moon cast it mystical lunar glow a lone figure meditated on a clifftop underneath it. His thoughts private, his being as peaceful with his surroundings as the rare flowers around him which ironically enough bloomed only at night. A slight breeze whipped off of the ocean below ruffling the ornately woven scarf that he wore around his neck itself embroidered with flowers, and the image of the moon. The pictures stitched into the cloth were so vivid the false moon seemed to glow. He listened to the night sounds as he allowed nature's nighttime music to soothe his soul. The croaking of frogs, chirping of crickets, and cries of bats were so familiar to him he could tell exactly what time it was by their rhythm. Breathing in deeply he enjoyed his solitude and used the peace as an opportunity to reflect as his soft mauve fur rustled ever so softly in the breeze. The breeze carried a slight scent of Mallow Flower as it passed by him. Carrying his flower coated scent through the woodlands beyond. It soothed the forest creatures who knew that the evil one would not harm them while he was near. Out of respect for him night predators refused to hunt in his presence. A songbird injured earlier in the day by some careless hunter dragged itself over to him chirping softly. The purple hedgehog turned and gently scooped the injured bird up then he turned and carried it to his home. As he set it's wing he promised it that even if it was injured to badly to return to the wild he would insure that it never had to suffer the indignities of living in a cage. With that promise he settled down for the night, looking forward to a new day and all of the opportunity that it would bring.


	2. He Who Fights Monsters

As the sun rose majestically over the horizon, waking songbirds began to warble their melodies as thenight creatures retreated peacefully to their homes thankful to have survived the night. As the sun's rays illuminated the landscape the flowers seemed to glow as their dew laden petals caught the sunlight which gave the illusion of cloaking them in little droplets of liquid gold.

The black and yellow striped bees , and their companions the vivid colored butterflies that seemed to radiate every color of the rainbow quickly set to work pollinating the flowers in the growing sunlight. The sight was one of rare natural beauty, a beauty that was all but lost on the desperate messenger. He had been running all night, knowing all too well the consequences of arriving late.

Especially if he were to arrive late with such important news. To him the busy bees were stinging nuisances, the rising sun a testament of his losing battle against time itself, the butterflies mocked him with beauty that he could not stop to enjoy, and the morning dew soaked his uniform slowing him down exponentially. Hoping against hope that he would arrive on time the messenger raced forward knowing that if he were to fail now this new day could very well be his last.

Meanwhile not so far away in the palace Shadow woke up, combed his fur and put on his uniform inwardly (and outwardly) cringing and hoping that Silver didn't blow the entire team's cover. "I wonder how the royal family slept last night…oh well I'll find out soon enough." Shadow murmured this aloud as he stared into the mirror adjusting the golden embroidered collar that signified his rank only to be interrupted by a slight tapping sound at his door.

Glancing at his clock as he went to investigate the sound he noted that he had as always awoke and prepared an hour early. When he swung the door open Mephiles slunk in and closed it before he even really registered what had happened. "Shadow the guards have been told to be on the lookout for a messenger to arrive before noontime. Allegedly he is to speak to none but the king and his brothers when he arrives." Mephiles watched Shadow carefully his calculating gaze impossible to read. Shadow closed his eyes and carefully thought out his reply.

"Do your job stay away from this it likely won't end well and if you see Silver look after him." Mephiles looked at Shadow again with an unreadable expression in his snakelike gaze. "Shadow Silver is going to get us publicly executed…he shouldn't be here." Shadow responded without hesitation "Getting executed publicly is a risk we all took on willingly when we came here. Silver is going to do his best and that's all I'll ask of him. We are part of a team and we don't let anyone get killed. Understood?"

Mephiles looked at Shadow and conveying absolutely no emotion in his tone stated "Understood." "Well then I'd better go, it might look somewhat suspicious for me to be talking to you at this hour. Oh and Shadow Rose isn't one of our team so let her die." With that Mephiles dashed out before Shadow could respond. Sighing inwardly Shadow waited fifteen minutes after Mephiles' departure before leaving himself so they wouldn't bump into each other in the hall way.

Shadow steeled himself mentally as he headed towards the chief chef's private sector of the kitchen knowing very well that the wrong reaction to anything he was about to see would blow his entire team's cover. His mental preparedness paid off as smelled fresh blood in the room ahead and could hear someone's tortured breathing. Mentally willing himself to be prepared and steeling himself for the worst he pushed the door open. No sane mind could have been prepared for the scene that awaited him.

A patrol of honor guards stood facing forward, faces so still they could've been carved out of stone completely ignoring the scene of suffering taking place directly in front of them. Less than two feet away from them laid a palace guard bleeding his life away, begging for mercy and crying out in pain. Shadow noticed at first glance that he was missing his left arm. The black and red hedgehog knew this was a situation to be played out very carefully. As the honor guards were only seen when a member of the Royal family was with them.

Shadow had a hunch that one of the king's brothers had done this and it proved correct. No sooner had the though passed his mind when he noticed the yellow hedgehog leaning nonchalantly on a bloody battle axe watching his victim suffer. Shadow studied his potential opponent carefully not missing a single miniscule detail. This hedgehog was the size of a small echidna, and probably had the strength of one to left a battle Axe..or was that a Warhammer? Of such size. He had yellow fur that was longer than average, jutted out in different directions as if it had never seen a comb, short curved claws, and red swirling eyes that gave Shadow the feeling that their owner was quite possibly insane.

"Can you give me one good reason to let you live?" When Shadow heard that he realized that this strange yellow hedgehog was holding a conversation with the dying guard. Mentally blocking the deranged charade he studied the guard himself. He was a medium sized echidna with brown fur and oddly colored yellow eyes. He was in very good shape and didn't appear to be a pushover so his opponent had either ambushed him, been very fast, or maybe even both. Shadow glanced at the guard's tormentor again who was paying nothing around him any attention accept for his bleeding victim. The yellow hedgehog wasn't exactly lean himself and conveyed an image of less than blazing speed but then again this analysis was coming from someone who had Sonic as a friend. Just then the door behind him that he had just entered through swung open.

Silver and Amy entered the room and looked at the scene before them with barely disguised horror. Silver was staring at the royal guards wondering how they could be so cold hearted while Amy stared at the gigantic bloodied double edged weapon which was dripping blood directly onto the plush tan carpet. Shadow shot his teammate a look that could have stopped a train and that look was what brought Silver's mind back enough for him to hide the expression of horror on his face just as the guard's tormentor raised his head and locked eyes with him. Shadow knew very well that Silver didn't know the rules of engagement with the Royal Family as making eye contact was very near the top of the list.

"Hello, my albino friend. Why don't you get the cleanup crew so that they can clean the blood out of the carpet before it stains? As you must know my oldest brother can't abide stains on his real fur carpets. How careless of me." Shadow glanced at Silver hoping the Rookie made the right call and making a mental note to find out more about this strange yellow hedgehog. Silver replied with a slight tremor in his voice: "Of course should I tell them to de scent the room as well?" The yellow hedgehog tilted his head sideways without breaking eye contact with Silver. "No need, it smells sweet in here doesn't it? I haven't seen you before you must be new. What's your name?" Silver gulped nervously. "I'm Silver The Hedgehog and you are?" The yellow hedgehog smiled revealing a mouth full of jagged fangs: "I'm Fleetway and this is my weapon Death's Kiss, Vengeance of the Harvest." Fleetway then lifted the weapon and brought it within an inch of Silver's face and still smiling said: "Say hello to my little friend Silver." Silver flinched convinced that he had blown his cover somehow but managed to croak out a hello to the cold steel weapon being held inches from his face.

"See Silver's a friend. He's going to clean up your mess so you don't get in trouble." Fleetway was talking to his weapon as he stroked it lovingly then he looked up at Shadow and winked. "I'd better be going." With that he left the room with the full honor guard procession marching behind and closed the door. It took a moment for Shadow to realize that this hedgehog he'd never seen before winked at him like he'd known him his entire life. Taking a deep breath to compose himself he turned to Silver. "You did well." Then he glanced at Rose who had been oddly quiet throughout the entire episode. "Are you okay Rose?" She was staring with as stricken expression at the now dead guard. "I'm fine Shadow, but what would possess someone to do something like that?"

Shadow simply shook his head wishing he had a good answer. All three of them were convinced that the hedgehog calling himself Fleetway was crazy. Silver looked to Shadow "I'd better go get that clean up crew." Shadow nodded to him stepped out and called Mephiles "Be watching for a big yellow hedgehog called Fleetway." With that Shadow returned to the room and glanced at Rose. She looked at Shadow and sighed. "It's not even 7:30 yet..I'm supposed to serving the royal family breakfast..how am I supposed to serve that monster?"

Shadow's heart went out to the poor servant. "I don't know but by Chaos I hope you find a way. You see what he does to those who displease him." Rose fell silent looking towards the floor and turned to walk into the kitchens. "I wish you luck..you must have become quite desensitized looking at this every day." Shadow decided not to tell her that was his first time meeting Fleetway in his entire life. Standing alone in the room he secretly hoped that by dedicating his life to fighting monsters that he wasn't becoming one himself. With that last thought he left the room as the cleaning crew entered looking at him almost questioningly and finding no answers in the black and red hedgehog's face.


	3. The Most Important Meal Of The Day

Rose tried whole heartedly to put the horror of what she had just witnessed out of her mind but the scene kept revisiting her. The sickening smell of blood, the blood stains on the beige carpet, and the complete lack of remorse from the guard's killer all haunted her. The thought that one living creature could be so callous towards another completely defied all logic in her mind. Shaking her head to clear it of such negative thoughts she inwardly vowed to never embrace evil but to fight it with all her heart.

It was with this new mindset that she entered the Royal kitchens were the Royal Family's breakfast was being prepared. Countless aromas, and noises assailed her senses as she walked in between two palace guards and pushed open two incredibly heavy double doors to enter the kitchen. She temporarily paused to take stock of her surroundings.

The floors were white marble, which were complemented perfectly by ivory white pillars jutting from seemingly random points in the kitchen, each pillar was covered in elaborate carvings and was spotlessly clean. Hanging from the walls were elaborate paintings framed with solid gold. She didn't see any food being prepared or people around so she continued studying the room.

She soon discovered that the only light sources in the room came from a bunch of very small flames each perched on a monstrous sized pillar candle strategically placed around the room. Something about the flames struck her as unnatural so she curiously approached one and softly blew at it. It didn't so much as flicker. Now very interested she blew as hard as she could only for the flame to grow in size as if it had been fanned and deepen in color from orange to scarlet.

Slightly spooked she backed away from the candle and waited for someone to come provide her with some instructions. While she waited she mentally reviewed ideal reactions if she were to run into the hedgehog called Fleetway again. Even thinking about him was making her uncomfortable. Just as she was becoming lost to her thoughts a hidden door swung open and another female creature approached her.

Quickly Rose snapped back into a full state of awareness wanting to make a good impression on whoever was approaching. That was a good thing as it turned out to be her boss for the morning. A purple cat approached her "Hello my name is Blaze The Cat and I am in charge of the servants this morning. What is your name?" "Hello Blaze my name is Amy Rose. Rose for short and I'm honored to meet you this morning."

Blaze eyed her for a second and then said "Good you are respectful, lack of respect for the royal family is what got the servant that you replaced killed." Rose opened her mouth to say something but Blaze cut her off: "I didn't do it Fleetway did. I assume you've meet him?" Rose could only nod mutely. Blaze watched her carefully. "You do know you'll be seeing him when you serve breakfast?"

Rose could once again only nod her head. "You're lucky today. The King won't be showing up." Rose finally let herself breathe out a sight of relief. Blaze however cautioned her "You'd best prepare yourself. Fleetway isn't the worst of the bunch. Come with me and pick out something to wear from the approved list of uniforms."

Rose soundlessly followed Blaze into a huge walk in closet filled with suits and dresses. Silently thinking she picked a white dress covered in pink roses, went to the changing room and got dressed without saying a word. Blaze approved of her outfit: "Nice choice be sure not to get it dirty and don't make any enemies while you're out there." After thanking Blaze she went to the kitchens were the food was actually being prepared.

The cooks surveyed her with pity in their eyes and shook their heads. She heard them talking about her: "She won't last long." "She's gonna get cut in half if she even looks at one of them sideways." "I think they're going to like her looks." Mentally blocking out their pitying looks and cruel whispers she went over to the servers.

"What's it like?" she asked them. They looked her over and then responded carefully with none talking over the other: "It's dangerous." "You never know what will set one of them off." "It depends on the mood that they happen to be in." As they spoke to her she looked them over herself they were all lady hedgehogs about her age except for one a very small rabbit that seemed to be half the age of the others and each of them wore a dress."

Just as she was about to question them further Blaze marched in and a hush fell over them. "The king may or may not show up today it's up in the air. As usual your lives are at stake however consider the stakes to be especially high today as Fleetway has already murdered someone this morning. I wish all of you luck follow the rules of engagement and you may come out ok." With that Blaze turned and left as the cooks came in and began lining up each holding a very fancy serving tray laden with picture perfect food.

Rose glanced at a servant behind her it was the very young rabbit. "What are the rules of engagement?" she asked in a whisper. The young rabbit glanced around before quoting from her memory: "Address by title always, don't retaliate ever, keep your head down, if you see someone getting hurt by a member of the Royal Family don't intervene…she looked up into Amy's eyes I think you get the gist of it." Amy nodded "Basically be subservient." Cream looked as if she were about to reply but then quickly got quiet and still as a hush fell over the room.

Rose followed everyone's gaze to a large white male hedgehog about Fleetway's size that had just entered the room. He surveyed everyone with a cold gaze and began to speak. "For those of you who don't know my name is Nazo and I am Captain of the Guard. I am here this morning to remind you that it is your place to serve and obey. Anyone who attempts to posion a member of the royal family will be personally executed by the King." After this he paused "Am I making myself clear?" Everyone except for Rose chorused in unison: "Yes Captain Nazo!"

Nazo looked at them and sneered. "Good then I expect a minimal amount of bloodshed this morning. Especially since the king will most likely be absent." Blaze then entered and rung a small bell. Nazo left without another word. Blaze then looked at the cooks and nodded. They in turn nodded to two elaborately dressed honor guards who pushed open the doors. The cooks then marched in with the food held high.

When the cooks were out of sight Blaze rung the bell again signaling for the servers to follow. Rose found herself following the young rabbit as they headed out of the double doors and into the dining area. The place immediately took her breath away.

Everything looked more beautiful than she could have ever imagined even in her wildest dreams from the perfectly set table with it's exquisitely embroidered tablecloth, to the lone chandelier in the room which reflected rainbow colored light, down to the silverware which was actually made out of Silver. Quickly regaining her focus she watched the other servers carefully and took up position with them hovering closely by but still keeping her distance.

A sense of unease filled her being when she spotted Fleetway again until she realized he was paying her no attention. He was talking to another hedgehog seated at the table. She glanced at this other hedgehog and had to stop herself from crying out. For this blue furred creature seemed to have blood constantly leaking from it's eyes and running from inbetween it's teeth. Turning away quickly trying to erase the sight from her mind she found herself looking into the young rabbit's soft brown eyes.

Trying to distract herself from the horror of what she had just seen she asked the young rabbit for her name. "My name is Cream Ma'am what's yours?" Rose was touched by the young rabbit's politeness and shaken that one so young and innocent had to serve such monsters. "My name is Amy Rose but you can call me Rose." "Ok Hi Ms. Rose." Cream chirped. Amy smiled down at her even as she heard Cream get called across the room.

Cream turned and quickly scurried away. Amy watched her hoping desperately that no harm should come to the young rabbit. She herself was waved to the opposite side of the room by another Server. "I need you to stay over here, you're inexperienced and don't really know what you're doing so this is the best place for you to be." Rose thanked her and glanced at the hedgehog she was supposed to be serving and shocked to see that he seemed to radiate kindness.

A piercing shriek from across the room immediately caught her attention. Terror filled her being when her eyes fell upon the source of the unearthly sound. The hedgehog that she had seen Fleetway talking to earlier had bitten Cream on the tip of the ear and wasn't letting go. Cream was tearing her delicate ear shrieking and trying to get away as blood from the tip of her ear dripped to the floor.

For a split second the whole room seemed paralyzed and then everyone went back to what they had been doing as if nothing was happening. Everyone except for the hedgehog Rose was supposed to serving. He stood up and a quiet voice that was scarcely a whisper addressed the hedgehog that was biting Cream's ear. "Exe let her go."

Exe looked at the other hedgehog (who Rose had just realized had the oddest shade of mauve fur) and bared his teeth without letting go. The other hedgehog walked to the other side of the room and looked into Exe's eyes. "Let her go. She hasn't done anything to you, plus you've already had your fun." The hedgehog called Exe seemed to consider it then gave one last yank followed by a pained yell from Cream and then let go grinning (literally) from ear to ear.

The purple hedgehog picked Cream up in his arms and wordlessly carried her from the room as she buried her face into the ornately decorated scarf he wore around his neck and sobbed. Rose was filled with anger at what she had just witnessed but realized that she'd just seen her first sign of kindness since entering this terrible place. She glanced around at everyone else to find that they seemed surprised at the sudden turn of events.

Even as they continued serving they glanced at the spot that the purple hedgehog had left with confused expressions. Rose kept waiting for him to come back but breakfast was finished without him. She was in such a state of shock from what she had witnessed that she didn't pay any attention to the other hedgehogs seated at the table but moved around them without actually looking at them. Worry for Cream was setting her nerves on edge and had her constantly glancing at the clock.

When the Royal Family finally finished breakfast and the table had been cleared she realized she had no idea where she could find Cream or the purple hedgehog that had helped her. Remembering Shadow's advice not to ask too many questions she kept her head down as she reported back to Blaze. Blaze told her to return to her bedroom and stay there until summoned for further duties.

As Rose sat in her bedroom staring at the ceiling she mentally reviewed what she'd seen, the hedgehog with the horrifying appearance (he seemed to have bottomless black pits with two red bits of light for eyes), his cruelty, and the surprising act of kindness from the purple hedgehog. She quietly hoped that her newfound friend was ok with the purple hedgehog and hoped to be able to see her again soon.


	4. Showing Suggestive Signs

Cream woke up in a complete panic. Her last memory was that of a demonic looking hedgehog biting her ear and not letting go only for her to be picked up by another member of the Royal Family Trembling she wondered what was in store for her next. Why couldn't they just leave her alone?

Sitting upright she nervously surveyed her surroundings which seemed to be a room in some sort of infirmary. Sniffing the air she was surprised to smell herbs instead of medicine. Looking around she noticed that more species of plant than she had ever seen before in her life had representatives in the various plant pots scattered around the room.

Still studying the plants she gently reached for the section of her ear that had been paining her so badly earlier only to feel someone grab her hand and gently push it back to her side. She turned and found herself staring into the eyes of the light purple hedgehog that had rescued her earlier. Even through her sudden panic she noticed that his eyes were a weird pink color like something that belonged on a white lab animal.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." Cream simply stared back into his eyes and then started crying again. Concern filled the purple hedgehog's gaze "I'm sorry did I startle you? Is your ear still hurting?" Sniffling through her tears Cream looked up back into his eyes "Whatever you're going to do get it over with! Why won't you just leave me alone?" The purple hedgehog backed away from her suddenly refusing to meet her eyes "I apologize for the trauma you've been through I think it's best that I left you alone." With that he left the room through a door that had been camouflaged by vines and gently shut it behind him.

Cream cried herself to sleep in the strange plant filled room, wishing that she could go back to doing her job, and that this strange purple hedgehog would leave her alone. Meanwhile the lilac colored hedgehog stood just outside the door listening and then left hoping that the young rabbit would feel better soon.

Rose was summoned for work at noon. A royal guard came to her room and knocked on the door. When she opened it he simply signaled for her to follow him. She followed him wordlessly into an assembly of some sort which they quickly walked through and exited through a side door.

The side door lead into an elaborate chambered maze. The guard turned to her. "Wait here until a member of the Royal Family gets you." With that he left through one of the chambers. Rose surveyed the room again which looked more like a cave than a room and wondered where Cream was.

Sitting patiently she didn't have to wait long before someone she recognized approached. Unfortunately for her it was none other than Fleetway. At least she noted as he approached that he appeared to be disarmed as he wasn't carrying his battle axe.

In fact he didn't even seem to notice her, but appeared to be looking for someone or something else entirely. He looked right at her then but his eyes seemed to be looking through her at something that wasn't even there or wasn't visible to her eye. Trying not to attract any attention to herself she stood stock still and observed.

Fleetway was obviously confused "Why are you running from me?" Rose couldn't help but glance in the direction he was looking at but saw absolutely nothing. Fleetway took a tentative step forward almost if here were afraid to startle someone away. "What did I do wrong? I'm trying to be good!" Rose was now convinced that she was in danger and moved quickly out of Fleetway's line of sight watching him carefully. He never even seemed to notice her movement.

"Ebony come back I miss you." Rose watched as Fleetway took off with speed that was impossible for anyone other than Sonic and Shadow and chased his invisible friend Ebony in and out of the multiple chambered area. She could only watch dumbfounded as he ran himself into a state of exhaustion and then collapsed in the corner gasping and still holding a conversation with himself. "Giving in? I'm not giving in into the Chaos. Who told you that?"

Then in an impossibly quick change of consciousness he turned and looked directly at the spot where Rose was hiding. "You get from behind there. Who are you hiding from?" Stepping from behind the rock she stared into Fleetway's insane eyes wondering what was wrong with him. Was he currently dangerous? As if answering her question he immediately entered a state of confusion. "Who are you and where are we?"

Rose discovered that she had just answered her question from earlier "What could possess someone to do something like that?" Fleetway quite possibly might not even remember that he murdered that guard earlier she thought to herself. To test her hypothesis she asked him: "Why did you kill that guard earlier?"

Fleetway looked at her and then got up and ran from the room while yelling at the top of his lungs that he "Hadn't killed or injured anyone. Stop telling Ebony lies about me!?" Rose was shocked at the sudden turn of events but was secretly glad that Fleetway wasn't in whatever mood he'd been earlier when he'd killed the guard. Fifteen minutes later he came back with company.

It was the purple hedgehog that had helped Cream earlier. Rose glanced at him and then noticed that Fleetway was carrying his battle axe and wondered to herself what was about to happen. The mauve colored hedgehog looked at her and spoke "Miss Rose I understand that you were supposed to wait here until I came to get you and I apologize for my tardiness." Rose was speechless.

"Now that I'm here we can go over the rest of your duties for the evening." He glanced at her. "If that's ok with you." She could only nod as she kept a weather eye on Fleetway. The purple hedgehog followed her gaze and sighed. "Fleetway perhaps it would be best if you went and supervised the construction of our latest turrets?" Fleetway left saying they were going to need live targets for target practice with the turrets after they were constructed with a pointed look at Rose.

Completely ignoring Fleetway the Lilac Colored hedgehog spoke to Rose. "For the rest of today your duty is to exercise the king's dragons." She looked at him as if he were crazy for dragons didn't exist or did they? "You are not to feed them, give them water, or clean their enclosures for those duties have already been taken care of, it is your job to ride them around the enclosed flight track for a minimum of one hundred miles each. Understood?" Rose nodded. "The dragons have natures that reflect that of their keepers, so be very careful." With that the mauve colored hedgehog lead her on a walk that seemed to last miles until they reached a door with a pair of guards dressed in all black that radiated a coldness like nothing she had ever seen before. "These are two of the king's guards they will lead you to the dragons." With that he nodded to the guards who blind folded Rose and led her on a march.

About an hour later they removed the blind fold revealing a huge meadow with a pebble track in the center of it. The entire meadow was enclosed in a chaos energy field that prevented anything from getting in or out. As she looked on a curious dragon roughly a hundred times her size with yellow scales and red eyes trotted over to her on all fours and nosed her like a puppy.

The guards turned and left. The dragon laid down on it's belly and looked at her expectantly and then yawned showing a mouthful of fangs. Each fang was bigger than she was. Carefully studying the dragon she approached it. It had bright yellow scales like the petals of a sunflower, cherry red eyes, and a very friendly demeanor in fact it seemed to be smiling at her as she mounted.

Once she climbed on she realized that she had no idea how to ride the dragon, as it had on no gear, as such she had no idea how to communicate with it and was simply along for the ride. It proved easy enough because as soon as she stopped shifting the dragon lifted off and flew around the pebble track exactly four hundred times before landing. She discovered that she actually enjoyed the sensation of flying but had no idea what the next dragon would be like.

Just as she dismounted from that dragon a guard brought over another dragon this one had on a head halter and had smoke curling from it's nose. "This dragon is the personal mount of the war prince and won't let anyone else ride it. He killed his last rider." The guard told her. She studied the dragon it had very long legs, a long whiplike tail, and a very narrow head, but by far it's oddest feature was a strip of fur running from behind where she assumed it's ear would be all the way to a plume at the end of the dragons tail. It's scale were a metallic purple that seemed to change to color depending on how the light hit them.

"You have the option to try to ride this one or just run him around the track and wait until his owner comes back and exercises him." Rose thought about it and then took the head halter from the guard and swung onto the dragons scaly back confident in her riding ability. The dragon turned it's long snakelike head around and looked directly into her eyes before it reared on it's hind legs like a horse took off high into the sky and then flipped upside down. Rose was left dangling from the head halter for dear life. The dragon then looked at her again hissed and bit through it's leather halter in a single decisive bite then watched her as she began to fall to her death.


	5. If You Don't Know It's Master

Rose gaped at the dragon as she fell, shocked to see that it had flipped right side up, was hovering in place, and appeared to be sticking it's tongue out at her like a bratty child. She however quickly turned away from the dragon with a more pressing issue coming to mind: She was quickly falling to her death while holding a useless half of leather harness. Weighing her options and realizing that walking away from this situation wasn't going to be option without outside help she started yelling for someone to help her.

Meanwhile the guard that had cruelly set her up to die at the claws of the cunning purple dragon simply laughed as he watched her fall. So what if the dragon had actually been left in it's enclosure with strict orders for no one other than the War Prince to ride it? The sole witness to his crime the pink hedgehog would be dead soon and dead hedgehogs didn't talk. He watched her with great amusement laughing to himself at her inevitable end.

The laughter died on his lips as he felt a familiar fiery presence behind him. Turning around he found himself face to face with a red furred, orange eyed hedgehog. The red furred hedgehog's eyes revealed his rage but he quickly spun away from the guard and focused his eyes upon the life or death scene taking place overhead. The look on his face held every expression under the sun except for approval. The guard shuddered as he realized that the jig was up.

Rose had shut her eyes to hide the hideous site of the ground rushing up to meet her when she heard a whistle like none other in her life. It was a very melodic sound that started at a pitch higher than a dog whistle and then dwindled out to a soft sigh. It seemed to be a language all it's own. Opening her eyes she spotted a medium sized (about the size of a football field) flame colored dragon racing upward from the ground towards her.

Quickly realizing that the dragon was coming to help her she was able to reposition her body In just enough time for the dark orange dragon to make a clean catch. The instant she landed on the dragon's back she heard another whistle this one much shriller and sharper the dragon heard it and immediately coasted back to the ground and landed. When she looked up she noticed that it had landed directly at the feet of a red furred hedgehog that was about her size.

The red furred hedgehog looked at her with a gaze that seemed to encompass a forest fire "Get. Off. My. Dragon." Rose quickly complied this new hedgehog seemed angry enough without her contributing. The instant she did the dragon walked behind him and sat down giving her a baleful look and snorting in her general direction.

This was her first time getting a good look at the dragon and she couldn't help but stare as it had a rather odd appearance. It's orange scales were so smooth that individual ones could only be picked out upon intensive inspection, it's red eyes had no visible pupils and upon closer inspection it seemed to have three sets of much smaller eyes behind it's main ones, a mouthful of fangs each the size of a machete tied together the dragon's facial features.

She was quickly snapped out of admiring the strange reptile's features by the odd flame colored hedgehog beside her. "Who told you to ride that dragon?" He seemed to have calmed down considerably now that she wasn't on his dragon anymore. "That guard right there." Rose informed him.

The flame colored hedgehog turned to the guard. "You deliberately disobeyed direct orders." The guard spluttered "I was only testing her worthiness.." Rose barely noticed the almost imperceptible nod that the Flame colored hedgehog gave to the dragon at his side. However the dragon's response was much more noticeable.

Lifting one mighty front leg off of the ground the dragon lowered it's foot down on top of the guard, spreading it's talons so that one landed on each side of the petrified guard. Rose noticed then that each bright orange claw was bigger than the guard himself. "You only playing almost resulted in the death of another servant. Now what do you think your punishment should be?" The guard was stunned into silence mutely staring into the eyes of the mighty dragon.

"Fine I'll let my dragon decide what to do with you then." He turned away seeming to completely lose interest. Rose however noticed that the dragon continued watching him before it picked the guard up in it's front two claws and took off far into the sky. As she continued watching the dragon stopped when it had got as high as it could go and dropped the guard.

Shaken by the fact that the guard had just experienced the fate he had almost condemned her to she studied the crimson furred hedgehog. He in turn was studying her. "You must Rose the newest servant." Finding that he was hard to read and that she felt as though she was wilting under his intense stare she replied "Yes I'm Rose." She wanted to know his name but remembered Shadow's warning.

Just then the dragon landed in between them and dropped the guard's mangled corpse directly at the orange eyed hedgehog's feet before retreating behind him again and studying Rose. Speechless she stared into the massive creatures blood colored eyes. "You must be inexperienced with dragons." The red hedgehog stated.

Rose glanced back at him wondering what an appropriate response would be only to see that he had turned his back to her. "Continue with your duties, but consider your lesson learned: Never attempt to ride a dragon if you don't know it's master." With that he left the dragon exercise enclosure without another word and without looking back.

Rose watched him go and then turned back to look at the dragon that he had left behind. It in turn stared it her with it's head cocked to the side. She didn't know whether or she should attempt to ride this particular dragon and with her latest dragon riding experience still fresh in her mind she opted to leave this dragon to it's own devices.

While she was studying the flame colored dragon, the purple dragon with the metallic purple scales that had flipped her off earlier landed beside her. She looked at it warily wondering what it was up to. The dragon lowered it's head and stared directly into her eyes for a split second before turning away. She noticed that it still had on the half of the harness that encompassed it's head. Would the dragon's owner be angry that the halter had been destroyed? She decided that she did not want to find out.

The purple dragon turned back to her it's scales seeming to shimmer in the sunlight and head butted her knocking her cleanly off her feet and soiling her mostly white dress. Stunned she looked up at the dragon only to roll out of the way in the nick of time for one of it's talons was imbedded deep in the earth where her chest had been a second before. Scrambling to her feet she quickly realized that she had no weapons with which to fight the dragon and no one around to come to her aide.

While looking around she spotted another purple dragon coming up behind the first. This new dragon had lighter colored scales, was around the same size and had the exact same build all the way down to the weird strip of fur. It hissed at the dragon that had been threatening Rose and positioned itself in between them staring down her attacker.

Her former attacker turned and walked away not at all interested in fighting to get to Rose. The new dragon turned to Rose and nudged her. She noticed that it had a weird contraption almost like a dragon saddle on It's back that was skillfully embroidered with the likeness of mallow flowers. The dragon also had a slight familiar scent. With a jolt she realized this dragon belonged to the hedgehog that had helped Cream earlier. She immediately started wondering how her new friend was doing.

Meanwhile, Shadow had walked out of the room where Fleetway had murdered the guard earlier and since found Silver. Since they both had jobs as palace guards it wasn't hard for them to get shifts patrolling together. Actually accomplishing their mission however was hard since they had specified sectors to patrol that they weren't allowed to leave under any but the direst of circumstances.

Their patrol had been a real drag so far with nothing eventful happening. As the clock neared noontime the monotony of their day took an abrupt change. The door directly in front of them was knocked open without warning as another guard an unusually large echidna with yellow fur ran in. "The messenger has been sighted!"

Shadow and Silver exchanged glances. What exactly was so important about this particular messenger? The guard eyed them I wonder if we get to overhear anything? He quickly ran back out slamming the door shut behind him. Shadow glanced at Silver "I advise you to pretend that nothing is happening."

Silver nodded in mute agreement as the door opened again this time it was a nurse followed with a full crew of hospital security. "Have you seen my patient? He's a hedgehog about your size." Shadow told her respectfully that her patient hadn't came this way and after she left turned to Silver. "That's odd there don't seem to be many hedgehogs here except for the Royal Family and us."

The words had scarcely left Shadow's lips before the door opened and closed so quickly and quietly it gave the illusion of having never opened. Standing eye to eye with Shadow was another than Sonic The Hedgehog. Silver asked for both of them "Sonic what are you doing here!?"

Sonic looked at them gave them his trademark grin and then dashed out of the room without the slightest explanation. It took another second for it to dawn on Shadow that Sonic was the hedgehog that the medics had been looking for.

There was no time to dwell on that however because the door opened yet again but this time it was to admit an exhausted looking male Jack Rabbit being escorted by a trio of royal guards. The rabbit looked as if he had run to a state of exhaustion. Shadow noticed his official messenger uniform and knew that he was the messenger that the king had been waiting to see he carefully noted the rabbit's only distinguishing physical feature as the other guards marched him past.

Standing guard as he was he couldn't break his duty and potentially his cover at that moment in time but that didn't mean he wouldn't catch the messenger later. So standing by on guard both physically and mentally Shadow and Silver bided their time.

Meanwhile the messenger was terrified even though he had arrived on time. The king's mood was unpredictable and he was bringing less than perfect news. He desperately hoped that the king was in a good mood as he understood that his life hung in the balance. Trembling with fear the rabbit marched onward.

He was passed from the custody of the Royal Guards to that of the King's personal ones. His fear know increased two-fold the rabbit took a depth breath before signaling to the guards to push open the double doors to the debriefing room. Steeling himself mentally he slowly stepped inside.


	6. Mind Your Own Business

As the messenger entered the royal debriefing room his worst fears were confirmed. The king was sitting across the room with his usual murderous glare but his demeanor seemed somehow darker than usual. Crossing the room quickly and keeping mind of the armed guards in every corner of the room the Jack Rabbit kneeled in his front of his King.

Fighting to keep his voice from trembling he addressed his king without looking upwards "My lord I have returned to you bringing news of the runaway." The king made a dismissive motion towards one of the guards and they each turned and trooped out of the room. Shocked the Jack Rabbit stole a glance at the guards as they marched out and closed the huge obsidian doors behind them.

He turned quickly at the sound of his king's voice. "**You seem frightened. **_**Are you planning to hide something from me?"**_ Cringing at the sound of his king's voice the frightened hare looked up into his eyes and replied "No My Lord." It was the only thinkable answer.

Taking the quick glance upwards as a chance to survey his surroundings he used his skills as a tracker to absorb as much information about his environment as he could in that brief moment in time. The walls were black made from some kind of rare mineral, covered in exotic paintings and looked as if they'd been cleaned recently, the whole floor was covered in very soft fur, and the desk that he was currently kneeling in front of was made from ornately carved bone. Bone that the newest King of Mobius was absently tapping his fingers on.

That brought the terrified hare to the king himself. A surprisingly small hedgehog, the king had quills that grew upwards as if gravity didn't apply to them, unusually dark fur and eyes that seemed to glow white with no visible pupils. In fact as the hare studied his Lord's face it occurred to him that the king's fur seemed to have darkened since his last visit from dark navy blue to a near jet black shade. Gulping quickly and looking away he decided now was not the best time to ask the King if he had dyed his fur.

Without breaking eye contact with the hare the dark furred hedgehog stood up, walked around the desk and put a hand on his shoulder. **"Make Your Report." **The hare took a deep breath and proceeded as ordered "I followed the runaway as I was instructed to, he traveled to a village that is a couple of days away from here on foot, the village elders knew him and welcomed him with open arms. He was sent as a spy as the elders of the village don't trust your leadership. Wondering how his report was being taken he added "I wasn't spotted, covered my tracks, and mapped out the village."

The king studied his messenger wondering if the hare really thought him to be that stupid. Leaning so close that they were almost nose to nose, he stared into the hare's eyes and asked him in a voice barely above a whisper "Did you see any another runaways there?"

The hare attempted to break eye contact with his king only to discover that he was now being restrained. Realizing that telling a lie would only make his death certain he choked out the truth "They were all there."

Turning away from the hare temporarily the king was happy to hear that his plan was working. Every servant that he had allowed to escape settled in the same village. I village that would soon have an uprising. He could hardly wait. How would he handle the unruly villagers? Several ideal arrangements were already coming to his mind.

Confusion temporarily filled his mind. Were these thoughts his own? Shaking his head to clear it he managed his first smile in days. It was nice to have the opportunity to make a decision with other's lives. It was a decision he was only going to get to make more often now that he was King. The mere idea of the power he controlled was enough to send him into a state of Euphoria. Ruler over the planet of Mobius with no one to second guess his ideas! He could finally act on his whims and desires without fear, it was a dream come true.

The hare had been watching his king carefully during the last minute and had bit back a scream when he smiled. For his king's smile had revealed a mouthful of long sharp, slender fangs, like nothing that belonged on a hedgehog..no like nothing that belonged on a living creature! The hair on the back of the hare's neck began to stand up when he realized that he had seen the inside of the king's mouth before…just last week and he hadn't had teeth that looked even remotely like that.

Doing his best to hide his terror he meet the Lord of Mobius' eyes as the king turned once again to look at him. His fur was undeniably darker the hare realized and he was still smiling. This time when he leaned into the hare's face it was his teeth that the hare were more concerned about watching rather than his eyes. What was going on with him to make him change like that? The hare wondered to himself.

His thoughts were interrupted by the doors behind him opening abruptly. He turned and looked at who was entering hoping that his debriefing session was over. Alas, it was not to be for Fleetway entered looking directly at him. The rabbit realized with a jolt that Fleetway had once been his greatest fear but that it was now the creature behind him that he was now convinced was not a hedgehog at all but merely something else masquerading as one.

As if reading his mind the King glanced from the messenger to Fleetway visibly puzzled and then shrugged. **"I decided that Fleetway should finish your interview. He's much better equipped morally to handle you than I don't you think?" **The king then left him in the room with Fleetway. Alone.

The hare had a few seconds to place what else was different about his king as he left the room and quickly pinned it down. It was his voice it now had an odd whispering quality to it. Was that even the same hedgehog? The hare had no more time to deliberate on it as Fleetway started questioning him.

The king headed straight to his Royal Bedchamber upon leaving the messenger in the room with Fleetway. Lack of sleep and severe pain were trying his nerves. As soon as he reached his bedchamber he ordered the guards to get a servant to bring up some food. The pain was only increasing now that he had skipped breakfast.

By the time that the servant had arrived he was visibly shaking, eyes closed, half curled into a ball on the floor, with his quills poking in different directions. Stunned the servant looked to the guards for direction only to see that they had already left the room and closed the door. Quietly placing the food on the King's nightstand she turned to leave only to hesitate. She decided to check on the king because if something were to happen and she didn't report it everyone would assume that she had poisoned his food and she would consequently be executed.

Studying him as she approached she almost jumped back upon seeing his cringe. Those teeth couldn't possibly be natural. She tentatively reached out and touched the skin on his cheek only to pull back upon contact for it was burning hot. A gasp escaped her lips and she instinctively scrambled backwards as what appeared to be smoke started rising from his skin.

The gasp turned into a low wail of terror when she realized that it wasn't smoke at all but a black aura beginning to rise from the trembling figure in front of her. Now genuinely terrified she backed all the way across the room and watched from what she hoped was a safe distance. She wondered if she could escape without being blamed for whatever was about to happen.

As she watched he started crying softly and talking to himself. Eyes squeezed shut, and trembling violently he was obviously in very extreme pain. Turning away from the horrifying scene in front of her the servant hugged her knees, closed her eyes, and did her best to ignore the cries of pain emanating from the creature behind her.

When they finally did stop she was afraid to look. She felt a cold hand on her shoulder a second before being spun around. She was now looking into the King's eyes. For a split second she wondered if she had truly witnessed the spectacle she thought she had and then she realized that he was surrounded by a blackish bluish aura. Stammering through tears of terror she stumbled through her sentence "Sii-r or L-or—Kin- your food Is at your bedside."

He simply looked back at her and grinned revealing a smile from her worst nightmares. When she cried out he placed a finger on her lips while shushing her "_sssshhh." _The sound made her imagine a very large snake sliding across velvet, fear kept her from crying out. Slowly removing his finger he turned and looked into her eyes. As she stared back she got the sensation that he looking directly into her soul.

"What do you want from me?" She asked him dreading the response. He simply tilted his head to the side and replied as if it were obvious "**I want your **_life." _She opened her mouth to scream only to realize that no sound was coming out. He smiled yet again. **"I will have it. Your resistance is futile. Come quietly and I'll make it painless."** _"You can call me Death for the rest of your brief existence as I am going to kill you."_

Staring into his eyes she screamed and started pleading for mercy that simply wasn't there. The guards standing outside completely ignored her cries, their only duty was to ensure the king's happiness and safety. What he did to his servants was none of their business. The youngest guard turned to the window and watched the sun set. Hearing the servant's pleas get louder and more desperate he wished for earplugs as it was going to be a very long night.

On the other side of the palace Rose showered, and changed into her pajamas mentally reviewing what she had learned during her first day at the palace Never ride a dragon if you don't know it's master and that Fleetway was unpredictable. Snuggling peacefully down in her bed she let herself dream freely of what lessons the next day may bring.


	7. Trouble On The Horizon

Early the next morning before the sun had even begun its ascent over the horizon a lone guard spotted trouble. A very large group of visitors was approaching, narrowing his eyes and analyzing their movements carefully he was able to determine that they were not an enemy army or at least not a well trained one. He quickly ran and warned his commander to their approach. His commander in turn notified the Captain of the Guard Nazo who was less than thrilled at being awoken at such an early hour of the morning.

Surveying the approaching group with a scornful eye he ordered double security including archers to be posted on the outer walls, he then formed up his own personal hand picked team of guards and took a boat across the moat. He knew very well that he couldn't take the security risk of extending a bridge over the moat. He carefully watched their approach, keeping out a wary eye for trouble. Such a large group had surely been spotted days ago by patrols and scouts, if they hadn't reported back it was due to the group not being deemed a serious threat. An assessment that Nazo wasn't sure his king would agree to, they were after all a large group of strangers walking up to his front door.

The strange procession marched right up to Nazo and his group of guards and then stopped. An elderly female hedgehog who had an air of authority about her approached Nazo. "Captain of the Guard we come unarmed and pose no security threat." Nazo could picture himself explaining that to the king (Lord I know you didn't expect to wake up and see the castle surrounded however they are unarmed and come in peace). Clearing the image mentally from his head he questioned the old lady hedgehog. "Why are you here?"

She looked at him as if it were obvious "We are here to protest the new king's treatment of special needs animals." Nazo looked at her as if she herself were special "And you don't think he's going to consider a large group of protestors on his front door step a threat?" She looked a Nazo and smiled "We are nonviolent protestors, we don't believe in any kind of violence." "Not even self defense?" Nazo inquired. She simply smiled "Not even self defense."

The Captain of the Guard couldn't fathom a group that would march up to the doorstep of someone known for being ruthless, protest his ways, and not bring weapons to protect themselves from the inevitable attack. "You can't stay here." Nazo informed her. As if on Que all of the protestors sat down at once. "We will peacefully stand our ground until we get a hearing with the King." She informed him. Nazo knew very well that he couldn't hurt them unless they attacked first as they weren't a recognizable foe. Nonviolent protestors…the king was just going to love this!

Exactly fifteen minutes later Nazo found himself in an emergency meeting with the royal family at 5:15 in the morning. None of them looked as if they were happy to be awoken. Half of them looked as if they had just returned from a battle and not rolled out of the bed. The other half looked as if they'd spent the last two hours preparing for a banquet. The king fell into the war zone half, his quills were poking in so many different directions that if it weren't for his distinctive fur color he would've been unrecognizable and he appeared to be wearing blood.

Nazo cleared his throat "At 4:45 I was awoken from my sleep by a member of the royal wall guard that was stationed at the outer north corner. As is required from my royal job description..Fleetway cut him off "Get on with it if it's really and emergency and it had better be waking me up this early in the morning!?" Nazo sighed and glanced at the king only to see that he had his head resting on the table watching Nazo through half closed eyes on the verge of falling back asleep. Sighing the Captain of the Guard summed up the situation in a single sentence "There are non-violent protestors outside and they won't leave."

The King woke up as if he'd been electrically shocked at the word "protestors." He glanced at Nazo. "**You said they wouldn't leave..did you kill them?"** He said the question like a statement as if he were certain that Nazo had killed them already. Nazo sighed and stated "They claimed to be nonviolent so I let them remain outside and came to talk to you. They are refusing to leave until they get a hearing." The king's eyes glowed "**I'll give them a trial by **_**missile!"**_ Fleetway glanced at him "It would only take one plane and one strike." The red furred orange eyed hedgehog that had fussed at Rose for touching his dragon earlier spoke up "It would also be a waste of resources."

Another member of the royal family spoke up his usual flowered scarf attire had been exchanged for a flowered robe that he usually slept in. "How could you guys? They're peaceful!" Nazo sighed they were going to go at it again. Sure enough a moral argument was sparked. "You want to just let them march back and forth on the front door and yell!?" "They could've wrote a letter if they didn't want us to feel threatened!" "They just want to talk show a little compassion!" "We're showing compassion by offering to kill them humanely and outright that's more than they'd show us if they caught us!" "How could you say that?!"

The king sighed and calmly delivered an ultimatum glancing at the gentle purple hedgehog he began to speak **"Out of respect for you and your opinion I will give you until sundown to convince the "peaceful protestors" to get off my palace grounds. You speak their language so perhaps they will listen to you. However, if they are still there when the sun goes down then I allow our brother here **(with a glance to the red furred orange eyed hedgehog) **to set each and every one of them on fire. Understood?"**

Speechless the purple furred hedgehog nodded knowing that was going to be as good as it got more than likely but still arguing. "What if they are elderly, special needs, or brought their children with them? Are you going to burn them to just because they wanted to talk to you?" The king's response was to get up and leave indicating that his part in the discussion was over. Fleetway glanced at him "You know that's the nicest I've ever heard him agree to treat anyone. Take it as a victory. I'm surprised he didn't go get a sniper rifle and use them for live target practice. You know how he is." Nazo didn't reply but couldn't help but agree with Fleetway he had been certain that the King would order them captured, brought inside, and interrogated one by one.

Sighing inwardly the peaceful purple hedgehog stood up. "I have to go prepare. If they are here to protest in a cause that they truly believe in they won't be convinced to leave easily." With that he left. All of the other members of the royal family followed him out without another word. Nazo wondered what his role was going to be in the coming drama.

The peace loving member of the royal family spent the next two hours in preparation. He cleaned his fur, got dressed, tidied his room, meditated, and ate breakfast. He hoped for understanding from the protestors outside and at the same time marveled at their bravery. He had just finished his morning routine when he heard a knock at the door, already knowing who it was he told the visitor to come in. It was as he had known his oldest brother the king who entered while flatly refusing to meet his eyes. **"I know that no matter what happens out there you aren't going to protect yourself or carry a weapon. Against my better judgement I'll let you go out there alone as you always protest to your guards however you will be watched at all times, if one of the protestors attempts to harm you I'm giving them either a public execution or their own personal torture session depending on what exactly they try. Whether I get them on the spot or later." **

Quietly the purple hedgehog looked at him "Sometimes I wonder what they did to you, to cause you change the way that you have." His oldest brother flinched but still wouldn't look at him. "You're still changing aren't you? Your fur is darker.." he cut himself off and turned to leave "Thanks for giving me a chance to at least talk to them." With that he left closing his bedroom door behind him with his oldest brother still in the room. He walked to the main gate where he found Fleetway waiting for him.

The oversized yellow hedgehog glanced at him with something approaching sympathy in his eyes. "I was told to escort you to the moat and then leave." He then paused "Please be careful. I don't think he'd be able to cope with you getting hurt." The purple hedgehog glanced at his brother and calmly informed him that he had no intentions of getting himself hurt and that he would be careful. Fleetway did escort him to the agreed point then stopped and watched him go on.

The king of Mobius was on a hairpin trigger watching his youngest brother approach a group of strangers…alone. It was killing him he wanted to run out there and tear them all apart with his own two hands, watch their life blood ebb out onto the smooth lush green grass, and know for certain that none of them would ever lay a hostile hand on his brother. Trembling with barely contained rage he carefully eyed the canisters at his side mentally ensuring himself that they were prepped and ready for immediate use.

Outside of the palace gates the peaceful protestors watched as a member of the royal family approached. Their leader approached the lone hedgehog. As he approached them the young purple hedgehog felt his heart stop when he saw the little ones with them, he then noticed their leader's approach and extreme age and bowed politely. "Ma'am it's an honor to meet you." Stunned at his manners she smiled at him "You can rise young one. You have manners what is your rank?" Rising and keeping a respectful distance he answered "I'm a member of the royal family." The old hedgehog was now genuinely shocked "You're royalty yet you are respectful and come to us with no guard or weapons?" The young royal hedgehog replied "I believe in the goodness of all creatures and therefore adhere to the philosophy of non-violent action. I am here to talk to you peacefully. Will you grant my request?"

Touched by his sincerity she granted his request and walked forward to introduce him to the rest of the protestors. Nearly all of them ran forward to meet him excitedly however one hung back. Too late he realized that the one holding back was clutching large pointed stone that she promptly hurled at him. It caught him on the base of his left ear and gashed it open, causing blood to begin spilling down the side of his face. Every protestor there turned to the little hedgehog and began to scold her as their leader turned to him and apologized "I'm sorry for the little one's actions, she saw her parents get killed by one of your brothers and has yet to learn about the importance of non-violence." Clutching his injured ear he gracefully accepted the old female hedgehog's apology inwardly remembering his brother's warning from earlier about punishing those that harmed him. Wincing he crouched down to the little hedgehog's eye level. She was only 7 years old "That's for hurting my mommy and daddy!" she yelled at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry that your parents were hurt, I didn't hurt them." He told her. Then watching the tears fall he mentally berated himself for letting his guard down and allowing himself to be struck by the rock. His ear was still bleeding, what was his oldest brother going to do to the poor little hedgehog?

Inside the palace Mobius' ruler had seen the entire incident and consequently locked himself in his bedroom so that he could rage in complete privacy. He just couldn't win, if he went out there and killed the so-called "non-violent" group his youngest brother would never forgive him. However something inside of him called for their blood and wanted to see all of them on their knees at his mercy. The pain came again sharp and agonizing. He realized with a jolt that he was only experiencing the extreme discomfort when he fought his desires to kill. Curling up on the floor in the corner of his room he started trembling, and sweating as the urges grew still stronger. He could literally taste and smell the blood because his blood lust had become so strong. Cringing outwardly with tears slipping from underneath his tightly clenched eyelids he didn't even realize that his aura was growing stronger.

Across the palace Shadow was called in for duty one hour early. His commander an older echidna eyed him approvingly. "Already up and ready for duty? That's what I'm talking about!" He instructed Shadow to stand on the outermost wall. "Evidently you're a good shot with chaos energy spears, we have protestors outside and the archers wanted backup. It could get messy. Get luck." Shadow saluted the older guard and took his post noting that every guard he passed was armed with both a long and short range weapon. Glancing out over the wall and noticing the tenseness in the air around him he audibly sighed with the realization that he was going to be in for an extremely trying day.


	8. As The Sun Sets

The searing, intense, razor sharp pain vanished as quickly as it had struck,  
leaving it's sufferer at first disbelieving that it had left, and finally  
doubting that it had existed at all. Cautiously Mobius' ruler uncurled and  
stretched his cramped muscles. Whatever he had been doing before the pain had  
struck was a mystery to him at that particular moment in time. A momentary  
glance at the window let him know that the sun was setting and painting it's  
gorgeous kaleidoscope of colors across the soon-to-be night sky. Faintly a  
thought resonated within him that the beautiful scene meant something in  
particular to him on this evening, but what exactly that meaning was eluded him  
for the moment.

Rising to his feet he did a quick and careless rather careless  
visual sweep of his room letting his gaze finally come to rest on a robe that  
was carefully laid out on his bed. Approaching it he realized that it was  
actually his dragon riding jacket and it dawned on him that he hadn't exercised  
his dragons that day. Hastily putting it on he quickly exited his bedchamber and  
jogged down the hallway and into the dragon keeping area. Upon arrival he  
wondered why their fewer guards in the hallway. Had he sent them away to do  
something else? Shaking his head he went to the very back of the dragons'  
housing area and opened the huge obsidian door that sealed the last habitat.

The huge inhabitant acknowledged his entry by kneeling and lowering it's head  
inviting him to ride. Quietly the King approached his dragon and circled it  
admiring it and ensuring to himself that it was perfect health. The gigantic  
dragon was several times the length of a freight train, and many times heavier,  
each of it's perfectly smooth black iridescent scales was the size of a dinner  
plate, each huge foot ended in several curved cleaver-like talons each bigger  
around than a broadsword, two horns six times the length of the average broom  
handle extended backwards from the dragon's skull, the dragon's eyes were blood  
red with no discernible pupils, a huge maw the size of a cave entrance packed  
with double rowed re-curved teeth bigger than a bedpost completed the dragon's  
look.

Satisfied with his brief inspection the King halted his circle directly in  
front of the dragon, looking up at the scaly behemoth he spoke to it. "How are  
you feeling Death Wish?" The dragon looked down at it's master and blinked  
before nudging it's master. An approaching guard could only shudder: the dragon  
was nudging his king the same way a puppy did begging to be petted. Halting he  
made his presence known before coming close enough to be perceived as a threat.  
"My lord I have come to inform you that the sun has set and the protestors are  
still outside." The previous events returned to the black hedgehog like a  
thunderbolt, the protestors, his youngest brother being injured, how could he  
have forgotten? Carefully disguising his true response from the guard he coldly  
informed him: "I already know this, Scorpio...but since you feel the need to  
state the obvious to me answer this, who took my brother's dragon out against my  
orders and exercised it..or should I say broke it's head harness?"

The male echidna Scorpio was at a loss for words, the king's ability to tell who was  
talking to him without looking and oftentimes before the approaching person  
could speak was legendary and well known but it still unnerved him. Attempting  
to collect and wits knowing that his life depended on giving the right answer  
the Echidna replied "I have no idea however, I will find out. What would you  
like for me to do?" The king temper had taken a sudden turn as was evident in  
his reply "Get out of my sight and leave me in peace. Oh and open the external  
flight door on your way out." Turning quickly and walking away the Echidna was  
inwardly trembling. The external flight door was only opened when the King rode  
Deathwish. Many of the older guards had told him myths about the dragon's size  
and they had turned out to be true what If the other rumors held true as well.  
Pressing the button to open the door he hurried back to his post praying that  
the protestors would be spared from whatever the dragon might do to them. Upon  
the Echidna's departing the black hedgehog turned back to the gigantic dragon.

"Ready for a ride Deathwish? The protestors outside hurt my brother, I have to  
deal with them but you need exercise as well..why not kill two birds with one  
stone?" He mounted without bothering to put any riding gear on the dragon and  
laughing to himself took of into the evening sky through the door as it was  
opening. All of the guards on patrol saw him exit and it was no small feat the  
dragon was almost to big to fit through the just opening door so it closed it's  
wings and spiraled through opening upon reaching the other side it opened it's  
wings to it's full wingspan which was a few miles across and took off at a few  
hundred miles per hour with it's riders laughter still echoing in the darkness.  
Inside Amy Rose had witnessed the dragon's the dragon's dramatic exit and heard  
it's master's laughter turning to the guard's around she asked "What was that?"  
dreading the response. To her amazement they all looked as scared as she felt  
"The king went dragon riding." Was all that they would say. The protestors were  
sitting together talking when the dragon's shadow fell over them, looking up all  
they could see was the dragon's outline as it temporarily blocked out the  
setting sun on it's way further out heading away from the kingdom.

As the young purple hedgehog looked at the shocked expressions around him he turned to their leader  
who had began questioning him. "Do you know what that was?" Ashamed at his  
answer he nodded slowly "The king has taken his dragon out for exercise." His  
answer was met with gasps of disbelief and incredulous exclamations: "Dragons  
don't exist!If he does this a lot why aren't there witnesses? Why now?" Quietly  
the purple hedgehog answered them: "There are no witnesses because he kills  
everyone that lays eyes on the dragon and usually only rides it into war." The  
protestors glanced at each other as the words sunk in. Their leader answered for  
them all: "So when he comes back he's going to let the dragon kill each of us?"

The gentle purple hedgehog nodded solemnly "He did say you had until night fall  
but since he rode the dragon out in plain view of you guys I'd say it's already  
obvious that he's made up his mind what he's going to do." A hush fell over the  
crowd as everyone turned to look in the direction that the dragon had gone.  
Meanwhile, atop the castle gates Shadow had witnessed the takeoff realized that  
there had to be a lot of big places that he didn't know about inside that castle  
in order for something that big to be housed inside without him knowing about  
it. As he watched the dragon fly into the sunset he marveled that some one was  
actually able to ride it and turned back to watch the protestors. As each group  
watched and waited for the King's return the sun slowly set marking the passing  
of yet another day.

Meanwhile unknown to anyone else at the time a exquisitely dressed red hedgehog was rifling through job applications in search of an Echidna guard to replace the one that Fleetway had killed previously. One caught his eye lifting the document from the overflow on his otherwise tidy desk he looked at the picture. It showed a young male echidna with bright red fur, purple eyes, and a white half moon shaped marking in the center of his chest, but what had truly caught the fancily dressed red hedgehog's eye was the fact that this particular Echidna's abilities list: strength that rivaled that of even other Echidna's, and some knowledge of healing as well as knowledge of chaos energy and it's properties. It was in his mind a perfect match, what his oldest brother might have to say about was going to have to wait. Pushing the other files aside and into a huge awaiting paper shredder he picked up the phone to make the necessary call. Smiling and fully at ease as his work for the evening was done. Or so he believed.

Far away from civilization and as far away from his kingdom as he could get without leaving the planet the king signaled for his dragon to land and then dismounted. They had landed in the middle of a tropical rainforest well away from the eye of the public. Turning to admire the air plants in the lush canopy above him he became almost at once aware of a dull ache starting at the base of his skull. Ignoring it he turned his gaze away from canopy and towards ground level where a tiny poisonous frog was hopping by at less than a safe distance. For reasons he couldn't understand the sight of the frog sharpened his pain and he quickly realized that each living creature that he laid eyes upon intensified his pain tenfold. Laying down and squeezing his eyes shut he mentally cursed the fact that he was in the Jungle surrounded by Wildlife whose mere presence caused him pain. He flinched when he felt the slightest vibration in the ground or heard leaves rustling nearby. Wishing to be surrounded by peace and calm where he could rest without being in constant agony.

_(Why do you fight with yourself my lord? Resistance of your instincts is futile at best and self destructive behavior at the worst. What do you have to gain?) _ Trembling visibly now the King dared to peek around convinced that he was going mad. The first thing he saw was his dragon's head and a quick glance around and he realized that the dragon had curled around him providing both a visual and physical barrier from the Jungle surrounding him. Breathing a sigh of relief he glanced at the dragon and then the fact that the dragon had finally spoken to him sunk in. "Why do you speak with me now?" _(Because it is my job to protect and serve you. You need to stop fighting yourself. It is a lose-lose situation King). _The jet black hedgehog looked at his dragon as if it were speaking a foreign language that he couldn't understand. "Fighting Myself? I have no idea what you're implying..." The dragon in response turned away from his king grabbed a Gorilla and pinned the struggling primate directly in front of his king. As soon as the black hedgehog saw the Gorilla he turned away trembling and curled into a tight ball with his back to it. The dragon sighed _(You cannot fight yourself forever, it is who and what you are, embrace it and be proud of your heritage and destiny). _The Gorilla looked at both of them then spoke to the dragon as it was well known that dragons could understand the native tongues of many different creatures. "What are you doing?" The dragon looked back down at the Gorilla and spoke to it in it's native language not wanting to startle it further with telepathic communication "Attempting to get him" he gestured at the trembling black ball of quills in front of him "to realize who he his."

The pain that he had experienced before had nothing on the new pain that was now spreading to each part of his body. He finally gave in when the pain reached his heart uncurling, shuddering and blinking away tears he turned to face the Gorilla dreading what was to come.


	9. The Five Senses

The changes came all at once and instantly altered his perception of the world surrounding him. Even though the changes happened at approximately the same time he noticed changes in his vision first. The sudden transformation was apparent to all onlookers who responded with both awe and horror. The birds fled from the treetops, the reptiles slithered and crawled to their hideaways, and impossibly enough the jungle a place so lush and full of life that it literally crawled came to a complete stand still.

First he noticed his enhanced vision, suddenly sharpened behind his own comprehension, he was seeing a range of colors that he didn't know existed. Turning his newly enhanced gaze away from the gorilla and upwards into the sky he could pick out the individual feather shafts of each of the birds flying away from him. Quickly he found that if he concentrated enough he could see birds hadn't groomed their feathers recently and make out the barely noticeable difference that it made in their individual flight paths.

Second was hearing amplified at least tenfold. The wing beats of the birds overhead were clearly audible. The jungle itself now seemed to be unbearably loud unless he concentrated on a single noise, and he was currently captivated by the feathered creatures flying by. Intense studying of each birds aerial wing beat tipped him off to one that was out of sync. Training both his fiercely tuned eyes and ears towards that one individual he discovered that it was in fact flying slightly unevenly due to a single minor tear in it's feather shaft.

The sudden onset of smells was indescribable and nauseating. He found himself shaking his head in slight anguish. He couldn't seem to focus on one particular smell and the stupefying array of them was giving him a massive headache. Remembering relief he earlier he stopped trying to focus and was rewarded by the headache immediately going away. The scents around him were tantalizing him with messages that he couldn't at the moment decode. Slightly dazed and confused he turned back to the birds.

No longer fighting his urges but instead embracing he crouched and leaped after the bird with the nicked wing shaft, so caught up in the moment that he didn't even realize that he had easily cleared the trees. Grabbing the bird out of the air he marveled that he instantly feel every bone it's a body and form a visual of were each one was. The new sensitivity in his fingers was immediately shown to be a liability when the parrot bit one, exposing him to a level of pain on par with being stabbed. Quickly and quietly he bit into the bird's neck killing it instantly and bringing to his attention the change in his final sense.

Taste. The instant the birds blood filled his mouth he was repulsed, it had a nutty tang to it, not that he disliked nuts but this tang was particularly strong, it caused his tongue to burn and he instantly regretted his decision to bite the bird. The instant he made contact with the ground he starting vomiting uncontrollably. Only then when his nose started tormenting him did he realize that the bird's smell unsettled him and put his nerves on edge. Something about it's scent had been warning him off from the get go and he had paid the price for ignoring the signs.

Turning away from the mess he'd made on the ground, and the bird carcass he finally turned to face the Gorilla being pinned by his dragon. Glancing at it and chancing a cautious sniff he was met with immediate feedback. The Gorilla was afraid of him, his mouth was burning and he frankly had better things to do. Disinterested he signaled for the dragon to let it's captive go. The terrified Gorilla lumbered away as soon as the dragon lifted it's foot. The dragon turned it's full attention onto it's master making note of the rapidly fading physical changes that had warned the other animals away: the jet black hedgehog had been briefly surrounded with a swirling black and blue aura that had since faded, his pupils had vanished leaving twin glowing white orbs were they had been seconds before, and the very air around him had seemed to change for a brief instant, becoming cold, murderous, seeming to posses a will of it's own to slice and wound anything around it.

Now restored back to his normal appearance the hedgehog turned back to the dragon and mounted. Wordlessly the huge black dragon turned and departed flying back in the direction from which it had came. An entire jungle watched it's departure and breathed as sigh of relief. A lone monkey grey from age watched the eerie sight: a midnight black dragon, flying away from one of the most beautiful places on the planet, framed by the nearly set sun, being ridden by a lone black hedgehog and sighed. "So he has been born." With those words the old monkey left it's lonely post atop the treetop and went to rejoin it's tribe.

As quickly as Death wish flew not even the mighty dragon could outrun time. As such it was night fall when he finally arrived back at the palace, wordlessly and with outwardly visible communication dragon and rider made the unanimous decision to return to the dragon keeping chambers. Gliding easily through the entrance and landing in his stall he allowed his rider to dismount and then started to eat barely pausing to eye the guards sealing the outer entrance after them. Petting the dragon softly in farewell the king turned and left the dragon enclosure heading back to his bedchamber. Much to the surprise of his personal guardians at the door.

"King the sun has gone down and protestors are still outside! Your youngest brothers is with them!" Eyeing the guard that had spoken with some unreadable emotion he replied "I am well aware, my brother went outside willingly, is being watched by a small army armed with night vision equipment as we speak, and since when do I address anyone dressed in a riding jacket?" The guard wisely decided to be quiet as the temperamental king passed. Upon entering his royal bedchamber he immediately removed the riding jacket opting instead for a light set of black chest and neck protection which he disguised with the help of a full length black cloak that rustled with the slightest movement or breeze effectively distorting his frame and making it near impossible for anyone to aim a worthwhile blow. Turning around to admire his outfit in the mirror was satisfied to see that the ornately designed collar did in fact cover the armored plated collar he was wearing under it.

Leaving his bedchamber he went straight to Fleet way's chamber and very quietly knocked on the door. He waited ten seconds and when he didn't get a response he soundlessly eased the door open with concern for his brother overriding the want to give him privacy. The sight that met his eyes simultaneously eased and amplified his fear: Fleet way was sitting in the corner unharmed but so still as to be almost comatose. As he cautiously approached his deep concern was evident was his brother's mental condition worsening? Tentatively touching the bigger yellow hedgehog on the shoulder his concern was justified when Fleet Way showed no visible response to his touch. Now very near panic the jet black hedgehog sat next to the yellow one softly called his name. His heart almost stopped when he didn't get a response. "Fleet Way? I know you're still there…you have to be.?" Concern finally put an over ride on his logic. He called for the medics with fingers shaking so badly he almost couldn't dial.

Concern was a foreign emotion to him, he was one that he got he to know when the medics loaded Fleet Way onto a stretcher and took him the Royal Medical Chambers. Barely keeping his true emotions hidden from the various onlookers he headed outside and ordered for the guards to open the gates. Mentally preparing for what awaited him outside of his castle gates he ordered the guards to get find his fire elemental brother and bring him there. Several minutes later the fire eyed hedgehog appeared at his side. The two brothers exited together and no words were spoken until they were well out of earshot of those posted on the castle walls. "Your cloak is flammable." The fire elemental stated without a sideways glance. The black hedgehog then responded without breaking a stride "So is my fur, neither is coming off." With that the two walked on in silence.


	10. Unthinkable Decision

The night had finally come. The sky was now pitch black, save for the moon's inexorable glow. Night flowers bloomed, revealing their rare beauty and kaleidoscope of colors. A slight breeze swept over the landscape adding to the air of anticipation that was so palpable the onlookers could almost taste its presence.

The king with his dark fur and skin had ceased being distinguishable from the night air around him save for the soulless, glowing, white orbs that were his eyes. His ebony cloak swirling in the breeze behind him coupled with his twilight aura gave him the illusion (or was it?) of formlessness and unapproachability.

In stark contrast his brother, the fire elemental seemed to be practically glowing from within. As if lit by an internal flame he had the flickering surreal glow of a jack-o-lantern and thus stood out like signal beacon to all of the onlookers.

Something that was lost in translation to all of the onlookers however was the conversation currently taking place between the two brothers. Almost imperceptively the King slowed his pace, his way of wordlessly opening up to any questions his brother may have had. Without missing a beat the flame colored hedgehog started questioning his older brother: Do you truly intend to let me...incinerate the protesters alive? The King answered without hesitation: **"They have shed our blood and for that they must die. However, if you feel as though this might require you to expend more energy than is currently feasible I can change the current method of extermination..."** This gave the younger hedgehog pause; he could back out but that could ultimately backfire condemning the prisoners to an even worse fate...and part of him wanted to try out his newly developing powers in a situation that wasn't battle-involved and therefore not life threatening.

They both ultimately decided to judge the ultimate fate of the protestors by the way that they behaved upon face to face confrontation. Thanks to the young hedgehog's reckless actions the entire group was guilty of "Royal Bloodshed" by association. In many instances a group was given the option to cast out a guilty member and plead for their lives but the flame colored hedgehog doubted his brother was in the mood to extend this particular courtesy. Steeling himself inwardly for what was to come he followed behind his brother and at what seemed like long last into the waiting crowd.

Speaking decisively, authoritatively and coming across as completely unflinching the flame colored hedgehog made his first appearance to the crowd with a single sentence: "Who Is Your Leader?" Sweeping the crowd with a simultaneously piercing, vivid and fiery gaze he hid his surprise when an elderly female hedgehog rose with great difficulty and approached him head on. Looking directly into his eyes and standing tall with pride that defied her lowly status she spoke clearly and without fear as she responded "I Am."

As he sized her up upon approach she so sized him up and her assessment was fraught with implications as if she were wrong in her assessment she and those under her charge could quite possibly die. This hedgehog seemed to be barely containing a raging inferno inside of him, his eyes appeared to be lit from within. These eyes while clearly ablaze with some sort of unreadable emotion were now trained squarely upon her. Hiding her discomfort she stated "As I told the royal family member that initially made contact" she gestured in a non dramatic fashion towards the purple hedgehog "we will not leave until we have spoken with the sovereign ruler himself the king of mobius." She glanced around at those who followed her and looked back at him "We are prepared to spend the night if necessary to get our point across and consequently a hearing with our lord."

Narrowing his eyes into an even more vividly intense gaze the dynast looked to his older brother for directions on how to proceed. Stepping forward in a motion so smooth that it could only be described as sinister the King stopped before the old leader. Shudders of shock and confusion passed through the crowd as the King was almost as small if not smaller than she was. Some doubted the authenticity of his presence but those doubts were quickly silenced by the iridescent, blackness of his coat and the supreme air of coldness that seemed to encircle him.

Wordlessly he stood before her as if daring her to speak in his presence. Upon getting over the shock of meeting him outside of palace, unannounced, and without the presence of any bodyguards she addressed him: "I've come to address your less than satisfactory treatment of those whom suffer from mental illness." Pausing for a second to take in his constantly shifting aura and impossibly dark features she continued "We are peacefully requesting a hearing." Scarcely a second had passed before the king gave his malice filled answer: **"You claim to be peaceful yet shed my peace loving brothers blood for no perceptible transgression."** He glanced in the Lilac colored hedgehogs direction as he approached. On his way over to his brother the King snatched the little hedgehog from her sleeping place by her left arm and dragged her along. Upon reaching his destination he turned back to face the old hedgehog. **"Am I to let attacks against my family go unpunished...even rewarded?" **The young hedgehog finding herself in the King's unyielding grasp, went rigid with terror.

Knowing very well that the child's life hung in the balance the lilac hedgehog carefully offered an apology on her behalf. "She didn't truly understand what she was doing...she's an orphan that hasn't been properly raised or cared for. If mentored I'm sure she'll learn to respect authority." The King's response to this was not to acknowledge it however his rhetoric to the crowd was brief and concise: **"The penalty for this particular offense as you all know is immediate death."** Pausing to let that sink in he continued:** "Since she's a child and my brother has generously decided to spare her life you have two options. One of you can die in her place, or you can disown her and let her pay the consequences for her actions alone..she will accompany us back to my palace and you have my word that she won't be put to death.**" The crowd withdrew, shocked at the impossibility and unfairness of the decision. Their elderly leader stood unflinching but her voice trembled slightly betraying her fear as she questioned him "And what of our hearing?"

It was the inferno colored hedgehog that spoke in answer to her question: "Make your decision. Let us take out our retribution for the wrong that was committed against our family and then we will give you our answer to your demands." Upon the completion of that sentence several willing volunteers offered up their lives in exchange for the child's to be spared without the consult of their leader. With tears in her eyes she over rid them: "My decision is guided by our doctrine which forbids me and all members from taking the life of another even if it is through the offerance of one of our own lives. If the King of Mobius states that she we will not be killed under his watch I will take him at his word." Visibly drawing herself together the old hedgehog looked at the king: "Take her."

Pulling the young hedgehog closer with scarcely disguised eagerness the King glanced at his youngest brother, who picking up on his cue addressed the crowd. "We agree to a hearing with you tomorrow at high noon." With that the three members of the royal family turned away and began walking towards the palace.


	11. Ominous Undertones

Opaque, breathtaking, and awe inspiring to all that would behold it the sunset cast its charming rays of light on the side of the massive obsidian castle. The castle in stark contrast to the brightness of the light striking it was so dark as to appear as though it swallowed all of the light that was directed at it..this was (sadly for the it's less fortunate occupants) not the case. Due to getting to bed well past his own predetermined bedtime the King had overslept and was subsequently awakened by the searing sensation of pure sunlight striking his bloodshot and sleep starved eyes. Reaching angrily for his curtains to block out the offending rays of brightness he incidentally fell out of his bed jolting himself awake. The memories of the previous day flooded him instantly filling him with a sense of trepidation (Was Fleetway okay? Had Redmoon found a replacement guard? And what was to become of this asinine hearing?)

Absently flexing his muscles he mentally reviewed what needed to be done and decided that his first order of business would be checking on Fleetway and taking care of his ill brother's chores, mainly the exercise of his favorite dragon: ironically enough named Sunshard, Defender of Faded Memories. The King rose inwardly hoping that the dragon wouldn't be to unsettled by Fleetway's failure to arrive for its morning exercise.

Rose had found that her day was going to be anything but uneventful for upon her dressing and exiting her room she had encountered a very odd hedgehog with snakelike green eyes whose name she had since learned was Mephiles. He seemed only mildly interested in what her job was in the palace and informed that he had only stopped by to warn her of a special circumstance: not to make any loud or sudden noises for the duration of the day. It was with this strange encounter and equally bizarre advice in mind that she reported in to her job at the kitchen.

Blaze seemed a little ruffled and appeared happy to see her. "Rose I need you to take this medicinal herbal soup to the royal infirmary while it is still fresh and hot...be careful not to let any of it come into contact with your skin as it contains pure peace song root." Trying to contain her shock and reminding herself that she wasn't supposed to ask too many questions she still let one slip "Peace-song but isn't that used to help battle either insanity or otherworldly mental influences depending on what you believe?" Blaze glanced at her "It is indeed now go and mentally prepare yourself for the encounters that await you."

Rose was escorted by two stoic members of the royal honor guard which seemed to be intentionally keeping her at both a physical and emotional distance refusing to so much as glance at her or in any other minute way acknowledge her presence. The royal infirmary appeared quite out of place in the castle. The pure ivory walls seemed to defy the darkness that shrouded much of the rest of the palace and it smelled of Illumina herbs well known and renowned for their uplifting spiritual qualities.

She was quickly ushered into a large and ornate room which was full of unfamiliar hedgehogs, nervous medical staff and one comatose patient which she quickly identified as Fleetway. Before she could question who she was supposed to deliver the herbs to they were gently lifted from her grasp by the same light purple hedgehog that had rescued Cream earlier. This hedgehog was quickly approached by another who was instantly notable due to the fact that his fur was the darkest color Rose had ever seen on a living creature or otherwise.

The two hedgehogs briefly conferred before jointly going to Fleetway's bedside. She noted that Fleetway showed no outward signs of recognizing their approach much to the distress of everyone else in the room. As the Lavender hedgehog gently poured the herbal mixture down Fleetway's throat a large white hedgehog which she quickly recognized as Nazo entered the room and cleared his throat.

"King, an urgent matter has arisen that requires the immediate attention of one of the royal family." The calmness in Nazo's tone did nothing to offset the sense of urgency that was evidence in his tone. The black hedgehog at Fleetway's bedside raised his head and surveyed the room catching Rose in his unsettling gaze.

"So that's the king I've never seen anything that color before." That was what quietly passed through Amy's mind as they briefly made eye contact. The King responded with a complete lack of concern in his voice "take the war prince." A purple hedgehog with two parallel stripes running down his back, eyes seemingly without pupils, and the an aura of fire stepped forward and then left with Nazo. A heat wave seemed to be pass over Rose when he walked by which she chalked up to a very convincing illusion until she realized that her light pink dress had been slightly scorched.

The orange fiery eyed hedgehog that had saved her from certain death in the Dragon's pen earlier approached the King. They conferred for the briefest of periods before he too left apparently in hot pursuit of Nazo and the other hedgehog that she only knew as the "war prince".

Her mind was quickly snapped back to the room by a very eerie sound which she soon realized was the beginning of a chant. The sound grew quickly and when it evened out she realized that all of the hedgehogs in the room that weren't on the medical staff (which she know knew was the royal family thanks to the king's presence) appeared to be reciting a poem and with a little effort she could pick out the following words:

In your solemn sleep, where the souls of the unwary do weep

We call on you to not wander to deep for your life is far from over

as you wander over the dividing heap

Let illusions not sway you as you cling to sanity

And may you never falter in the face of adversity

Let no siren trick you be it in Ebony's form

and let not destruction tricketh you into waking before morn

As those who wish for immortality commit immorality before dawn

Remember who you are don't fall to the lesser spawn

Come back to your family soon Fleet way around the breakers and before the way

or we will send Quiteus to fetch you before the end of this day

The song had ominous undertones to it and Rose couldn't help but notice that the medical staff all shuddered and seemed highly disturbed by the final verse with some instantly crossing themselves. The members of the royal family all rose and left the room shortly after concluding the song. As soon as they had left the room the medical staff shut the door and started whispering fervently among themselves: "Why would they threaten to summon such evil?" "What where they talking about?" "Did you see the King's eyes on the final verse?" "What kind of sacrifice must they have lined up to summon it?"

Deciding not the partake in the questionnaire lest she get accused of spying, Rose hurriedly left the room to return to the royal kitchens wondering what she had just witnessed and it's implications for whatever was to come.


End file.

Sonic the Hedgehog